1. Field of the Invention
In the case of mechanical keys with conventional wards and tumblers in the corresponding lock cylinder, the key can no longer be removed from the lock cylinder after it has been rotated when in the inserted position in the lock cylinder. The key can be inserted and removed only in the initial position of the lock cylinder. This effect is desired. This effect is not to be eliminated in the case of electronic keys which allow remote control.
2. Description of the Related Art
The invention is directed to a device for receiving and securing an identification provider such as an electronic key, in particular, for an ignition starter switch and/or a steering column lock of a motor vehicle, which cooperates with an electronic identification provider. The devices comprises a housing stationary within the vehicle which has at least one functional output such as a control shaft for the ignition starter switch or an electrical line to an ignition starter switch, and wherein the housing has a receptacle for insertion of the identification provider, wherein the identification provider has at least one lateral ward for a securing element provided within the receptacle, and wherein the opening belonging to the receptacle in the housing is closed by a spring-actuated cover element which upon insertion of the identification provider is pressed back against the spring force. This device can be arranged spatially separate from the steering column lock and/or an ignition starter switch but cooperates with these devices by means of mechanical or electrical connections. However, the device can also be combined with one or with both of these devices. In addition to these devices there may also be a separate actuator for starting the motor vehicle which actuator is an interactive connection with the device according to the invention, the ignition-starter switch and/or the steering column lock.
In a known ignition starter switch (DE 198 36 968 A1), which cooperates with an electronic key, an axially movable slide with an end plate is used as a cover element for the opening of the receptacle in the housing.
The slide is axially spring-loaded and is secured by end stops in a pushed-out position in which the opening is closed. The receptacle is positioned within a rotor within the housing. When the key is inserted, the rotor is transferred from a pre-determined rest position into different working positions in which the key can no longer be removed from the receptacle. This is achieved by locking pins guided in radial bores of the rotor which engage diametrically opposed cutouts in the inserted key in a rotational position deviating from the rest position of the rotor so that the key is secured in the inserted position within the rotor. Only in the rest position of the key the locking pins can be radially moved away from one another. In this ignition starter switch the securing elements for the key, on the one hand, and the cover element for the opening of the receptacle, on the other hand, are separate components which must be individually produced and mounted. This is cost-intensive. Operational disruptions of the separately acting elements add up.
The invention has the object to develop an operationally safe device of the aforementioned kind which can be produced in a cost-saving way. This is achieved according to the invention in that the cover element has a pivotably supported flap which is pivotable from an outer pivot position in which it closes the opening by means of the identification provider into an inner pivot position into the interior of the receptacle exposing the opening, that the flap at its exposed side has a projection whichxe2x80x94in the inner pivot positionxe2x80x94fits into the lateral ward of the identification provider and functions as a securing element for the identification provider, that the receptacle has a lateral recess, in that the flap during insertion and removal of the identification provider, by sliding of the projection onto the contour of the identification provider, can be pivoted farther back temporarily from its inner pivot position into an over-pivoted position, and that a control surface can be switched relative to the flap in its inner pivot position between a release position and a locking position, wherein the spatial area required for pivoting the flap farther into its over-pivoted position is free in the release position of the control surface but in the locking position is blocked and thereby secures the engagement of the projection of the flap in the ward of the identification provider.
The flap is loaded by a spring force. When the electronic key is removed, the flap is therefore secured in a closed position. Upon insertion and removal of the key, this spring force provides a snap-in effect which realizes a force-transmitting interaction between the inserted key and the projection of the flap. Upon switching of the control surface into its active locking position relative to the flap in its inner pivot position, a positive-locking interaction results. The projection on the flap engages then the lateral ward in the electronic key and secures thus its inserted position. Accordingly, the flap of the invention has a double function. It is firstly a cover element which, when the key is removed, closes the opening of the receptacle. The second function of the flap results because its projection at the same time is the securing element for the key. Therefore, it is only required to provide that the flap cannot be moved into the xe2x80x9cover-pivoted positionxe2x80x9d mentioned above in those working positions of the lock which are to prevent its removal from the receptacle. This is ensured by the already mentioned control surface which blocks in its effective locking position a further pivoting of the flap into its over-pivoted position.